U.S. Sen. Stabenow on agricultural industry: 'Even in these tough times, it's growing'

View full sizeJeff Schrier | The Saginaw NewsU.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow addresses a Saginaw News and Bay City Times editorial board on Thursday.

KOCHVILLE TWP. — Debbie Stabenow was in familiar company, working for a familiar cause, when she spoke to a crowd of Michigan Sugar shareholders about the future of the state’s agricultural industry.

The U.S. senator said, growing up in Clare, her friends and neighbors were farmers or descendants of farmers.

A childhood surrounded by agriculture was part of the reason the Lansing Democrat felt pride when telling a crowd of about 500 of the Monitor Township-based business’ shareholders — a group she said included some of those same friends from her youth — gathered Thursday at Saginaw Valley State University that their livelihoods continue to thrive and secure a place in the state’s future economy, Stabenow said.

“It’s strong and growing,” she said. “Even in these tough times, it’s growing.”

SVSU was the latest stop for Stabenow — chairwoman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry — in an agriculture-themed tour across Michigan, where she highlighted her committee’s progress on a new Farm Bill during visits in Grand Rapids and Lansing earlier this week.

The Farm Bill is rewritten every four years and includes a range of farm- and food-related policies, from farm subsidies to school lunch programs.

Stabenow said she expects to have the bill ready for legislators to sign within “the first half of this year.”

She said she hopes the bill makes the industry more stable for its workers when times get rough.

“Agriculture is a very risky business,” Stabenow said. “We want to make sure nobody has to lose their farm because of a few days of bad weather or some other kind of disaster.”

The senator said she also wants to promote initiatives that pave the way for the next generation of farmers.

“This isn’t your father’s farm,” she said. “It’s becoming a high-tech business. We need to continue an outreach to get people that are tech-savvy.”

Flegenheimer said support from officials such as the senator boosts business leaders’ confidence and can lead to investments such as the $35 million he expects Michigan Sugar will spend on energy-efficient agricultural equipment in the coming years.

“It’s an exciting time,” he said. “(Stabenow) knows the importance of agriculture, and she told us about that today.”